China jails its citizens as it touts global benefits of ‘new Silk Road’

The curtains closed on China’s moment of international glory with leaders from 29 countries agreeing to a joint communiqué, an act of symbolic support for Beijing’s vision of building a more prosperous global future around a “new Silk Road.” But as those leaders placed their signatures on a document pledging, among other things, “to be more responsive to all the needs of those in vulnerable situations,” hundreds of Chinese people were being kept inside a black jail on the outskirts of Beijing, many of them with long histories of complaining about mistreatment they had endured. They remained there for the duration of the Belt and Road Initiative forum that brought crowds of foreign dignitaries to China.-- More...